Snowed In
by grimdreamer
Summary: All Tamaki wanted was to live the life of a commoner, but when people start to disappear, and even end up dead, how will everyone cope when they find that the killer is amongst them?  Involves the Host Club, Renge, Momoka & Kazukiyo.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Inspired by SkellingtonZero's _The Tea's Gone Mad_.

A story which made me realise that there was something missing in my repertoire: _the ability to write a mystery/horror.  
_  
This is my first attempt at a horror/mystery and the rating will increase as the story progresses.

And I'm not as grim as my name suggests, so please expect a little black humour.

I am grateful to **liquidity **and **Social Safari** for beta-reading this story.

Thank you in advance for any reviews and constructive feedback.

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

_It started with Kyouya. When he realised that the storm had snowed everyone in, he suggested turning off every cell-phone but his in order to conserve energy. If the storm grew so bad that it cut off their electricity, at least they could work through one cell-phone at a time, hoping that signal would return to the lodge before every cell-phone gave out or that someone would find a signal nearby once the storm had died down. With this suggestion coming from Kyouya, the most logical member of the Host Club, everyone surrendered their cell-phones without a word and watched as their primary means of contacting the outside world were locked away in a writing desk. Why Kyouya felt it was necessary to lock their cell-phones away, they did not know, but they were willing to place their trust in him if it meant getting out alive._

* * *

**CHAPTER I**

The storm lasted almost a week. It had snuck up on them overnight, welcoming the Host Club and their classmates with a merry burst of snow on the evening that they arrived at the lodge. Running from the shuttle bus they had ordered from the airport to the foyer of the lodge, they exclaimed at the weather and its perfect timing, even though the snow was hindering their luggage, which they were too excited to leave in the capable hands of the shuttle staff.

'Okay everyone, I'm doing a head count!' said Tamaki, producing a clipboard from his rucksack and resuming the pose which he had witnessed so often from teachers in the classroom. 'When I call your names, raise your hands and say "here". Haruhi?'

'Here.'

'Kyouya?'

'Here.'

'Kyouya,' said Tamaki.

'What?' said Kyouya.

'You didn't raise your hand…'

To compensate for Kyouya's lack of parallel gestures, the twins raised three arms. 'We're here!'

'Thank you, Hikaru. Thank you, Kaoru. Mori-sempai?'

'Here.'

'I'm here too!' Hunny added. 'And don't forget Usa-chan!'

Tamaki nodded as he wrote the pastel pink rabbit's name at the end of his register. 'Kazukiyo-kun, Momoka-san?'

The Class Presidents of 1-A raised their hands. 'Here,' said Momoka, oblivious to Kazukiyo's self-consciousness.

'And Renge?' Tamaki sighed, looking almost pleased that the fan-girl was nowhere to be seen.

'_Hohohoho!_ Best vacation _ever!'_ came the voice of his nemesis from behind their snow-covered luggage.

Everyone apart from Kyouya gawped: in the time it took to complete the brief head count, Renge had made a passable replica of her favourite character Ichijo Miyabi from _Uki Doki Memorial_ in the form of a snowman.

'Can we go in now? It's freezing!' the twins complained.

'Not yet!' said Tamaki, racing past them in an effort to step inside first; the others followed, rolling their eyes.

No one suspected that such a picturesque flurry could turn into so violent a blizzard within the space of a few hours, their exploration of the lodge and what it had to offer thoroughly distracting them. As the occupants raided the pantry, claimed their desired bedrooms, and threw wood into the fireplace to make their settings brighter and more comfortable, the storm grew slowly in severity, surrounding the building in a thickening silence as it gradually blinded the windows and piled up high against every possible exit. It was not until everyone had savoured their meals, cradling cups of steaming green tea as they relaxed around the fireplace that an observation was made by Kazukiyo, their nyctophobic Class President, who the twins had invited just for fun.

'Don't you think it's snowing just a little _too_ much?' he queried, wiping condensation from one of the windows and staring pensively at the sheets of snow obscuring the glass.

The twins shared a knowing glance and propped their elbows on either side of Kazukiyo's shoulders.

'The probability of you dying is more than fifty percent–' started Hikaru.

'–compared to us being trapped in the lodge without food or water,' finished Kaoru, causing Kazukiyo to splutter with terror as he tried to decipher which misfortune was worse.

Tamaki appeared in front of the trio, accompanied by the latest tablet computer displaying local weather patterns above their area of Hokkaido. 'We won't get snowed in,' he stated with confidence, pointing at a clear patch encompassing their lodge and a generous region without a brick of civilisation. 'According to the latest weather report, the snow is likely to clear up by the end of the week, so we should all play out in the snow while we still have the chance.' Raising his slippered foot on the sofa with the spirit of having conquered Mount Everest, Tamaki demanded, _'So who's with me?'_

In the seconds that followed, everyone sipped tea, placed their cups quietly on the nearest flat surface, and ran from the lounge with undisguised joy, dragging a gibbering Kazukiyo along with them and leaving their second bespectacled classmate in a mild cloud of dust. As they exclaimed with delight at the snow which had gathered around the main entrance, pushing the oak doors until the snow acquiesced, then bounding into the dim whiteness lying flawlessly ahead of them, Kyouya went back inside to warm himself by the fireplace still crackling in the lounge. Playing in the snow was not an interest of his. Nothing could be gained from participating in such a pursuit when the only benefits seemed to be getting cold and nearly freezing to death.

While his friends laughed and played in their strange vacuum of night and snow, Kyouya merely checked his cell-phone, counting the bars of signal in the top-right corner of its small square screen and comparing it with the meter denoting battery power. Weather reports were never accurate. Despite how heavily the snow was falling right now, there was still signal and there was still internet; as far as Kyouya was concerned, this signified no sign of being stranded whilst their two most important channels were fully accessible.

_Still,_ he thought, finishing the last of his tea, _I question my judgement._ It had not been his idea to rent out a lodge in the middle of nowhere, without servants to maintain their welfare or rangers to monitor their safety, it was Tamaki's,but what else would Kyouya have done with his winter vacation? It was this question which had challenged Kyouya, which had prompted him to consider if there was more to gain from accepting the invite rather than declining it. The prospect of becoming the first of his brothers to organise such an outing with classmates had enticed him in the end. Either that or Tamaki was incredibly persuasive, endorsing the charms of living the "commoner" lifestyle with the intention not only to enjoy themselves but also to further understand their poverty-stricken classmate.

Kyouya sighed, questioning his judgement.

Eventually, those who had run out into the snow came back in, dripping wet and wiping the remnants of snowballs from their bodies and faces. Since Kyouya had not joined them in a mass snowball fight and stood before them as the driest member of the Host Club, in addition to being the most logical, he had kindly prepared the baths so they could shower and relax in the hot, humid water upon their return.

'Since none of us are doctors, it would not do to get ill,' smiled Kyouya, a valuable statement in hindsight, though a discomforting rebuke to his classmates in the hallway, flooding and wrecking the Persian carpets strewn across the floorboards.

'Thank you, Kyouya-sempai, we truly appreciate it,' bowed Momoka, the Vice President of Class 1-A, before leading the girls to the female bathroom on the other side of the lodge. As Momoka left, she gave Kazukiyo an encouraging smile, a gesture on par with cherry blossoms budding in spring or a sunset framing the icecap of Mount Fuji – he snapped to attention, anxious to please her, and also bowed to Kyouya, offering his thanks for the soft, neatly folded towels, freshly laundered bathrobe, and warm, scented slippers no doubt awaiting them in the male bathroom.

Light shone dangerously on the rims of Kyouya's glasses. 'I didn't go that far,' he told the first-year.

'Come on, Pres,' said the twins, linking arms with Kazukiyo and guiding him to safety. 'Calling the Shadow King a servant to his face is not what a _sane_ person does!'

Kazukiyo went gibbering to the bathroom, convinced he was a dead man.

'What about me?' Haruhi whispered to Kyouya as the others went ahead. 'I can't bathe with the girls or they'll discover my gender. And there's no way I'm bathing with you lot.'

Kyouya propped his chin with a thoughtful hand. 'You know, Haruhi,' said the Shadow King, 'we do have more than one bathroom here.'

'Rich bastards,' muttered Haruhi, when she saw what he meant.

* * *

As expected of any lodge available exclusively to the super-rich, the communal baths were stocked with hundreds of complimentary salts and gels for dissolving in the water. Whilst Hikaru and Kaoru tested the merits of each designer product, quickly transforming the bath from the standard of a pristine spring to an atrophic pond, Hunny voiced concerns about the increasingly bad weather.

'Usa-chan won't like it if we're stuck here,' Hunny had mumbled to Mori, scrubbing one of Usa-chan's ears with a soapy sponge.

To hear one of the eldest hosts confiding such feelings brought the weather remorselessly to the attention of every male present, invading their previous tranquillity with visions of no food, no utilities, and no means of escape, should the snow continue to fall relentlessly.

'Don't worry,' smiled Kyouya; he had already made his decision, assuring Hunny that he would personally brave the wintry conditions to find a signal on his cell-phone or plough a message through the snow if the worst ever came to worst.

'_Yay!'_ beamed Hunny, all worries forgotten. He dried off and happily skipped from the bathroom with his companion Mori in tow, possibly in search of midnight cake and other sugary goods which were probably not good for him.

'You're so reliable,' sighed Tamaki, equally satisfied that the Host Club and its friends were not in any danger. As water trickled down his bare chest, turning his skin the colour of algae, the twins laughed and urgently climbed out of the bath.

'Even if our cell-phones fail, we still have internet,' Kyouya murmured, once again enjoying solitude as Tamaki hauled himself up from the water and sped after the twins. 'There is nothing to worry about, absolutely nothing.' He stared up at the muffled glow of the lights shining down and hoped that he was right.

* * *

It continued to snow, filling in the scars of last night's adventures, pressing the doors and windows firmly shut as if Hokkaido itself could not bear human contact. Due to the amount, it soon became obvious that these necessary apertures were suffering from the occasional leak, an inconvenience highlighted by Kazukiyo when he entered the lounge screaming that the lodge was about to collapse and that they were all going to drown.

Hikaru did not look up from the computer game was he playing with Kaoru, who lazily regarded their panic-stricken classmate with a dubiously raised brow. 'Seriously?' yawned Kaoru, ending the game with a massive explosion and high-fiving Renge as Hikaru surrendered his controller to Tamaki.

'Seriously!' hissed Kazukiyo. _'Come on!'_

Rolling his eyes, Kaoru reluctantly left his seat and stepped out into the hallway, directing his gaze from Kazukiyo's trembling figure to the dark patch marking the Persian rug which served as the lodge welcome mat. To the confusion of Kazukiyo, the twin removed some paper from his pocket and produced a miniature boat, complete with sails and crew, in less than three seconds.

He placed it on the dark patch expanding on the rug and watched it gradually rise and float above the rug's patterned surface.

'Hmm,' mused Kaoru, 'this _is_ a bit serious. Guys! You better take a look at this!'

Everyone but Kyouya joined Kaoru and Kazukiyo in the hallway.

'Nice boat,' remarked Hikaru.

'Thanks,' said Kaoru.

They all saw the dark patch.

'We have to tell Kyouya!' decided the Class President, rushing upstairs to the first-floor study where Kyouya frequently took refuge.

* * *

Behind the day-old newspaper that greeted the anxious rabble, Kyouya patiently closed his eyes and wondered why everyone was running to him in this particular situation. Leaks were not his speciality and preventing leaks was not amongst his showcase of knowledge and talents. Nevertheless, he advised that the best thing to do was to seal the leaks as quickly as possible to minimise any interior damage. Nine salutes later and they had mopped up the water which had somehow breached the inner sealants of the first floor and basement before Kyouya could so much as lift a finger. Somehow, Mori had known where to find the emergency DIY kit, distributing poly-filler to Renge and Momoka, whose hand-eye coordination did not necessarily surpass that of the twins, though they did refrain from sketching and writing graffiti.

'Well,' said Kyouya, surveying the girls' handiwork. 'You've done a great job–'

Renge and Momoka grinned.

'–but how do we get out?'

Their grins fell.

'We still have a lot of food,' Renge laughed nervously, 'and loads of wood, so we'll be fine! The snow will stop, the snow will melt, and we'll leave the lodge without any problems – _hohohoho!'_

_

* * *

_

They spent the next two days riding casually on this assumption, burning log after log, consuming meal after meal without implementing any strict rules on how much should be consumed. These rules only came later, enforced by the ever logical Kyouya, who called a meeting in the dining room to discuss what he saw as "unforeseen circumstances".

'We can't go on like this,' said Kyouya, using Tamaki's tablet computer to present an inventory of what supplies were still available to them at the lodge. 'If we don't learn to curb our energy consumption, we'll run out of food and run out of fuel – a scenario that I, for one, am not keen to experience, should events go against us.'

'What do you mean?' asked Kazukiyo, looking as if he already knew what Kyouya meant.

'Today, we ration our supplies. We shrink our portions at meal times and only light the fire in the mornings and the evenings. Insulate the doors and windows with cushions and padding. Leave the kitchen sink and the two main bathroom taps running to prevent the pipes from freezing overnight, and switch all electrical appliances to eco settings and charge them up only when the appliances warn us. Turn off our cell-phones and leave one switched on to pick up any signal. We can't have every cell-phone running low on battery. If the electricity fails, we have to at least have the means of contacting the outside world. Even if there is no television and no internet, we will not be isolated.'

'Wow.' Tamaki blinked. 'As much as I appreciate the immense thought you've put into this, why do I feel as if you've prayed for this moment?'

'Questions?' said Kyouya.

Hands stayed down. Everyone was willing to follow Kyouya's advice. They adhered to his recommendations with a sense of adventure, romanticising the hardships they would face in having to eat smaller portions and burn less wood as they huddled under piles of blankets, awaiting the imaginary rescue team desperate to reach them.

Embracing advice was what Kyouya had hoped for. Above the edge of his newspaper, Kyouya watched his classmates strip the lodge of every blanket it had in order to continue their fantasy. There was some primitive calling in every human being faced with the prospect of a night in the cold, he observed. They liked to hoard things – food to eat and bedding to burrow in – as well as sharing creepy tales to chip away at the darkness.

'Kyouya, do you really think we're okay?' Haruhi stood beside the Chippendale leather armchair that Kyouya was sitting in, a woollen blanket wrapped around her. She had come up to him the previous evening, shortly after Kazukiyo had started querying everyone's nonchalant use of firewood. Only Haruhi, the one true commoner amongst the super-rich who were on this trip, felt anything remotely close to what the Class President was feeling.

* * *

The fears of Kazukiyo increased with the passing of each day, to the point where even consoling him had become more or less futile. He would obsessively tour the lodge, checking the sealant applied to the doors and windows, going through the DIY kit and the potential use of its unused items, and counting the diminishing long-life foods and pasteurised beverages stocked on every shelf in the pantry. He barely slept, refreshing his inbox every few minutes as he tried to distract himself on the internet, sometimes asking what day it was merely for something to say. In seeing Kazukiyo in such blatant distress, the twins began to spend more time with him, letting him win more games and trying to make him laugh instead of making fun of him. They even sent emails to Kazukiyo's family when he had abandoned his computer, inventing an extensive catalogue of jokes which Kazukiyo had told to keep up the spirit of his friends, despite the guy's decreasing interest in banter of any kind. After all, the Class President would not have come on this trip had it not been for the twins' invitation, and the twins, for a change, were both feeling guilty.

'We're doomed, I can feel it,' Kazukiyo whispered, more to himself than anyone else. 'We can't even do what we came here to do. We're totally lost. We're totally doomed.'

Standing in the doorway of the pantry, Hikaru tried to conceal his irritation by reciting ten to zero silently in three different languages, as Kaoru had advised him. 'Pres, enough of this doom talk,' Hikaru said, once the exercise was complete. His tone was neutral, but Kaoru, crouching beside Kazukiyo and looking at the cans, boxes, and packets lining the shelves, could tell that Hikaru was still angry.

'Yeah,' said Kaoru, smiling at Kazukiyo. 'You don't want Momoka to think you're a coward, do you?'

A hand clamped itself across Kaoru's mouth, the quickest Kazukiyo had ever moved since discovering the leaky door. 'I'm not a coward!' For a moment, worry entered his dull expression and the old Kazukiyo came to the fore. 'Am I really coming across that way?'

The twins shared a glance. 'No,' they said, generously, aware that Momoka Kurakano was listening nearby.

* * *

On the day before the brown-out, Haruhi was alone with Kyouya, musing on possible outcomes for the end of the week. Emails from their parents informed them that a rescue team was on its way and should reach the lodge around that time, depending on the weather. The emails were subdued, thought Haruhi, as if they were merely delaying an inconvenient truth. In response, Kyouya gave a kindly smile, not wanting to share his private opinion, which was uncomfortably close to what Haruhi had just observed. Inside, Kyouya felt ill at ease, pacing back and forth within his mind, trying not to let the rising panic get to him. He was not used to losing control or being wrong in some way. Before embarking on this trip, Kyouya had planned everything to the letter, ensuring that the absence of adult supervision would not affect the safety and enjoyment of his friends. But now, he could see that the tension was setting in, eating away at each individual silently, making them cling with over-emphasised joy to the simple pleasures of being alive, even though the supplies were still there and the possibility of being rescued not that far away.

When the lights went out, switching computers to reserved power supplies and leaving the television screen suddenly black, dropping them into an eerie void occupied by the firelight and its crackling heat, Kyouya knew it was time to dig themselves out of the lodge and try to find help. Also, if the back-up generator did not switch itself on, somebody would have to go outside and make it happen. Failing that, a signal on Kyouya's cell-phone would have to do; he would have to fulfil his promise to Hunny and the others about personally braving the snow, and grimly, he looked forward to it.

Around the flames of candles, Kyouya asked for volunteers to help turn on the back-up generator and accompany him in the search for a cell-phone signal. A few hands shot up, eager to cure their restlessness and boredom, as well as to assist the Shadow King with his logical plan. Hunny and Mori, being the eldest of the group, offered to restore the back-up generator, whilst the twins insisted on accompanying Kyouya to a place with a high vantage point where they could possibly obtain a signal. The rest went about equipping themselves with shovels and other tools capable of digging in the snow, and opened one of the second-storey windows to gauge the situation.

It was obvious that a lot of snow had fallen, the level of snow reaching as high as a second-storey window ledge. Kazukiyo almost fainted at the prospect of how doomed they all were, muttering apocalyptic theories to himself as he eyed the few half-buried trees scattered here and there - the sole features of a pure white landscape in the northernmost part of Hokkaido.

Meanwhile, Tamaki had named himself the leader of the "Snow Liberation Party" – a nickname he hoped would put a smile on his friends' faces as they poked their shovels at the undisturbed snow spreading outwards in all directions. A few people smiled, which was good enough for him. They would get out of here for sure! They just had to believe! 'The snow is hard enough to walk on,' Tamaki reported to Kyouya and his volunteers, who were wrapped up in their warmest clothes and carrying some food supplies and digging tools for the upcoming task.

'Don't go too far,' said Haruhi, presenting a bundle of flares. 'We don't want to lose you.'

Kyouya smiled, received the flares with a bow, and climbed out of the second-storey window with Hunny, Mori, and the twins. As the Snow Liberation Party waved "good luck" to the figures shrinking into the distance, it was the last time that they ever saw their classmate, Kyouya Ootori.


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Thank you for the feedback, Enigmaticrose4 and Social Safari.

And thank you also to mysterious person, who is indeed mysterious!

Hopefully you will continue to enjoy the story and not guess who the culprit is yet.

* * *

**CHAPTER II**

The back-up generator was a ten-minute walk away, housed in the same dark oak as the lodge and topped with an ornamental roof. Usually, its structure would thrum with the sound of electricity, buzzing just beyond earshot of the lodge and attracting human notice only if something ever went wrong.

And something had gone wrong: the lodge no longer had a power supply. Around two o' clock in the afternoon, access to television and the internet ceased, plunging everyone into a troubling darkness. As part of Kyouya's logical plan, Mori and Hunny volunteered to investigate further and hopefully address the problem themselves. Together, they walked towards the western side of the lodge just as Kyouya and the twins were trudging away to the north.

For Mori, the task was simple. Though he knew next to nothing about back-up generators, the third-year student had inherited the common sense of the Morinozuka family, and so it was in his nature to examine the issue first so that something could be done about it. As he considered what to expect, striding easily through the snow with his longer limbs, he realised that Hunny was a fair bit behind him. He stopped and waited. 'I will carry you,' said Mori, kneeling in the snow so that his cousin could embark and sit on his shoulders, but Hunny was in a peculiar mood, ignoring the offer. 'What's the matter?' he asked, slowing his pace to match that of Hunny's.

'I'm really worried,' Hunny confessed. He was only half a head taller than the snow surrounding them, a fact which did not escape Mori's notice. Without permission, he lifted his cousin out of the snow and placed him securely on the top of his shoulders, indifferent to the slush that was dripping from Hunny's boots. 'Everyone's so… tense,' said his cousin, after a while. 'Don't you think so, Takashi?'

Mori said nothing. The observation was true and the question required no answer. This was just Hunny's way of secretly calming himself; he always riffled through the emotions of others prior to his own.

'Do you think we'll get out of this,' Hunny said. 'Do you think we'll make our flight?'

In hesitating to respond, Mori realised that there was nothing but the crisp, empty silence of the snow-covered valley meeting and filling their ears. What should have reached them by now was a buzzing sound, the sound of electricity. As they approached the back-up generator, its ornamental roof glistening in the sun, they sensed that the power supply could not be restored without a certified engineer.

'Uh-oh, this doesn't look good,' said Hunny, referring to the thick ice encrusting the oak that lined the back-up generator. He watched as Mori strolled around the structure, inspecting it from all angles and testing the ice with swift, powerful kicks where he thought there might be a weakness. 'Is that a door?' Hunny pointed to a dark outline he could see beneath the ice.

Mori crouched in front of it and ran a gloved finger along its sealed surface, eventually shaking his head. 'It must have overheated then cooled back down again. There's nothing we can do.'

'Can't you hit it with a fireball or something?'

'I checked the emergency DIY kit. We don't have a blowtorch.'

Hunny lowered his head, clearly put out. 'Let's go find Kyouya, then... He'll know what to do.'

* * *

'Any luck?' asked Kaoru. He was standing with the Shadow King on their second hill of the morning, scanning the horizon through a pair of binoculars whilst Kyouya waited for his cell-phone to pick up a signal. For miles around, all that Kaoru could see were copious dunes of white, rolling back like a sine wave as far as the eye could manage. Amongst these dunes were intermittent patches of bare and evergreen forests, and the gleaming skeletons of electricity pylons, yet no tell-tale signs of any human existence. No smoke from a village which could be somehow out of sight, or the progress of a single snowmobile searching for survivors. There was nothing. No movement. And Kaoru could not help but feel extremely alone.

'Sempai?' said Kaoru, nudging the Shadow King.

'We need another hill,' Kyouya answered, lowering his arm and looking around for the next likely candidate.

There was a hill nearby that seemed to be taller, and there was another one further on much taller than that. In Kaoru's mind, it made greater sense to go for the tallest hill to begin with and consider the day complete, but Kyouya had insisted on trying as many hills as they could for the ever elusive signal: 'You never know, a small hill could be just as effective as a big one.' So why did it feel like they were only passing the time, slogging from one hill to the next? Not that Kaoru would have tackled their problems any better; the snow had caught him completely off-guard, as it had his brother Hikaru, who was internally kicking himself for not being more careful.

As Kaoru turned to follow his sempai down the hill, he noticed Hikaru a few feet away, gathering snow in his arms and dumping it on top of a rough, hardened mound. Without the aid of a book or a stop-watch to overcome his temper, Hikaru was building a snowman to resolve the excess rage. His cheeks had become red with the effort of lugging the snow and his brows were deeply furrowed as he shaped and smoothed the snowman's head.

'Hikaru, come on!' called Kaoru. 'We don't have a signal!'

'Why can't we just split up?' was Hikaru's heated response as he dusted the snow from his gloves. 'If we're going to climb every hill in fucking Hokkaido, why not give us _separate_ cell-phones so we can find the signal quicker and get the fuck out of here? Wouldn't that make a _little_ more sense to you?' His last remark was aimed at Kyouya, who had stopped in his tracks, spectacles glinting in the early sun.

'I've already told you,' Kyouya replied in his most reasonable voice, 'we have to stick together. We've already split into three separate groups.'

Hikaru finalised the design of his snowman before stomping over to the Shadow King, halting within punching distance of his senior's face. 'Listen, you,' he hissed, tensing his hands, 'this is not the Host Club. This is a bad situation where we have to try everything we can to ensure we get out.'

'Hikaru, don't,' pleaded Kaoru, reaching out to his twin; he felt the muscles bunching in his twin's arm. 'It has to be this way. We have to climb every hill until we pick up a signal, even if it means every day. If we used every cell-phone to check the signal that often, then how many _working_ cell-phones do you think we'll have left?'

'What is this, a maths lecture?' snapped Hikaru. He yanked his arm from Kaoru's grasp.

'Hikaru, please…'

'Don't you get it, Kaoru? This guy has lost _control!_ He doesn't know how to _solve_ this!'

Kyouya seized Hikaru by the front of his coat. 'Enough!' he bellowed, giving the older twin a violent shake. The argument between the Hitachiins ceased, switching their attention to the Shadow King, whose breath escaped in short, sharp bursts across the freezing air. 'Enough,' Kyouya whispered. 'Take the cell-phone.' He produced the device from his pocket and held it out with a slightly quivering hand.

'Thanks,' said Hikaru, sarcastically, and took the phone. 'Kaoru, are you coming? Let's try that hill over there.'

Kaoru gazed from the steep hill that Hikaru was ascending to the expression on Kyouya's face as he stared at the horizon. In the morning light, the guy looked older, as if the snow had bleached the youth from his teenage frame. 'Sempai,' said Kaoru, 'are you coming?'

'No,' said Kyouya, 'you go ahead.'

And so Kaoru turned, leaving Kyouya on the hilltop with Hikaru's snowman and the shadow it cast across the glittering snow.

* * *

For a while, the sound of crunching boots and labouring gasps occupied the silence as they ploughed up the hill. They were careful to test the ground before planting each footstep in case of holes or rifts that could be hidden in the snow. Occasionally, one of them would glance back, charting their tentative progress and checking on the figure of Kyouya on the hill, but they would never once speak, knowing each other's thoughts.

If anything, the truth of their dilemma had not yet sunk in and it seemed too hard for them to believe that they were in any real danger. After all, what had really changed apart from having to talk more with their friends and burn loads of candles to keep the lodge bright and cheerful? They had wood for fire, food in the pantry, and enough running water to see them through the week, so why all the fuss about electricity and cell-phones? Their families knew where they were, and if they failed to land at Haneda Airport in a couple of days, then somebody would come and look for them at the lodge that they were staying at – simple as _that_.

'Do you think he's okay?' inquired Kaoru, referring to Kyouya and his unusual outburst. 'I've never seen him break a sweat before. He really wanted to find that signal.'

'Well, so do I,' said Hikaru. He paused to check the cell-phone, swinging his arm in a horizontal arc. 'Why did you side with him? You're meant to be on my side.'

'I didn't side with anyone. I was merely agreeing on the best thing to do.'

'Is _this_ not the best thing to do?'

'Just drop it, will you? We're trying to find a signal.'

They were near the peak of the hill now, using their hands to claw their way up and leaning on knees to counter the tilt. However, the higher they climber, the harder it became to gain a decent footing, so they abandoned their efforts to reach the very top and settled on the hill and its precipitous sides.

After regaining his breath, Hikaru slowly stood, bracing his legs and balancing his weight as he moved the cell-phone from left to right, reaching as far as he could for the clear blue sky. 'No good, there's no signal here.' Kaoru extended his hand, asking for the cell-phone. Hikaru gave it to him. 'What are you going to do?' asked the older twin. 'Kaoru, get down from there!'

'We might get a signal at the other side of the hill. If we go around the hill like this–' said Kaoru, edging away from his brother, '–we might just get one and hopefully make a phone call.' Kaoru ignored the concern in his brother's voice, intent on the cell-phone and its empty bars of signal. 'Great. Still nothing.' He looked past the screen to where they had both left Kyouya and frowned.

'Kaoru!' cried Hikaru.

'What?' retorted Kaoru, just as a snowball hit him in the head and made him lose his grip on the hillside.

* * *

'Hey, where did everyone go?' said Hunny as they followed the compass north to where Kyouya and the twins should have been. They had walked across an untouched field between the back-up generator and the north-facing side of the lodge without encountering a soul. At some point, their path collided with the footprints of their friends and they followed these footprints for another ten minutes, until the footprints appeared to divide into two. 'Did they all split up? They only had one cell-phone… right, Takashi?'

Mori studied the footprints, noting the shape and underside pattern of the boots, which made them in the first place. There were two different patterns. One belonged to Kyouya, and the others, he presumed, belonged to the twins. 'They went together,' Mori deduced. 'They are probably up that hill.'

Staring from the footprints to the hill, Hunny puffed his cheeks and accepted the taller boy's offer to carry him up. 'We should have gone back to the lodge,' Hunny muttered, clinging to the fur-lined hood of Mori's coat and shading his eyes from the sun as they traversed the rising hillside.

When they reached the top, they were still alone. No sign of the twins and no sign of Kyouya, just a featureless snowman and its dark, slanting shadow.

Hunny squinted at the neighbouring hills, using his position on Mori's shoulders to see if he could detect where their friends might have gone. Meanwhile, his companion was reading the confusion of footprints marking the hill they were currently on. It seemed that the twins had moved around quite a bit, their footprints scuffed and malformed in comparison with the measured steps of Kyouya as he trekked up the hill. To Mori, it was clear that Kyouya had not built the snowman or ruined the snow by jumping about. He drifted away from the snowman towards the hilltop and peered down, careful not to unbalance Hunny on his shoulders. Nothing down there: only rocks and a ravine. Straightening, he noticed a separate track of footprints heading for a nearby hill, puzzled by what looked like two sets of footprints instead of three.

'Takashi, over there!' pointed Hunny, as if reading his cousin's mind.

But Hunny was not pointing at footprints on the ground.

Mori moved with a sense of urgency, converting his jog to a run as he realised what the two of them had seen. It was not an avalanche; the disruption had been too small. So it must have been something else, something bigger. _Like a person,_ thought Mori, with a chill.

'Hika-chan! Kao-chan! Is that you?' Hunny shouted.

Mori slowed and let his cousin alight. There was no mistaking the cinnamon hair or the matching boots. It was definitely the twins. As Mori caught his breath, Hunny was crouching beside the twin who was cradling the other. Although the Host Club had grown accustomed to this intimate brotherly act, not even they would misread the distress of Hikaru Hitachiin. Were it not for the parting of the older twin's hair, neither Mori nor his cousin would have known which twin was which, and it was proving impossible to extract a word of explanation. 'Please… please…' was all they could understand from Hikaru as he wept, clutching the limp body of his brother, whose face had become a red and bloody mess from tumbling down the hillside.

With a quivering hand, Hunny tried to check if Kaoru was breathing, his fingers barely touching the skin of the injured boy's neck before Hikaru jerked his twin out of reach, treating his friends as if they were enemies. 'We have to get him help,' Hunny insisted, desperate to know if Kaoru had broken a bone or suffered concussion. He could tell that the blood was mostly coming from a gash on the temple, with injuries to the mouth and nose simply making it worse, yet none of this could be healed out here in the snow. 'Hika-chan, are you listening? We're here to help you. Takashi is strong. He can carry Kao-chan. Do you want to go to the lodge now? It's cold here and Hika-chan must be cold, right?'

Hikaru was sobbing now, but Hunny's words had gradually sunk in. Carefully, he surrendered Kaoru to the gentle grasp of Mori.

* * *

'Don't tell me they're coming back already,' said Tamaki as he received the binoculars from Momoka and pressed them against his violet eyes. For a moment, he readjusted the lens, squinting at the figures as they progressed towards the lodge at the speed of a snail. 'Whoever they are, they don't have good news,' he murmured, noting their weary, staggering gait.

Since the departure of Kyouya and his volunteers, the Snow Liberation Party had remained close to the second-storey window, watching the movements of their friends as they walked through the snow in opposing directions. Only Kazukiyo had retired to the comfort of the lounge, too depressed by the sight to continue his vigil. In his place was Vice-president Momoka, a girl that Tamaki used to entertain at the Host Club before her designation transferred to Haruhi. She had excused Kazukiyo's lack of interest with a mild, apologetic bow – a gesture that was strangely disconcerting in their present situation.

Despite the trip being arranged in the spirit of friendship, everyone had fallen back on the ranks that each of them held within the confines of Ouran Academy. It was clear that the leadership of Class 1-A deferred to the authority of their older classmates, whilst Tamaki, President of the Host Club and senior to half of the members present, deferred to Hunny and Mori for approval and support, who, in turn, respected the values of their younger acquaintances. If relying on these ranks provided any semblance of peace and cooperation, and revived the dwindling morale of everyone at the lodge, then Tamaki would not disturb this delicate balance in the least, though there was nothing to prevent them from suddenly crumbling.

He studied the figures once more, keen to learn their identities. According to his watch, Hunny and Mori should have returned from inspecting the back-up generator. With any luck, they might have fixed all their problems with the flick of a switch or a well-placed kick, but Tamaki had a feeling things were not that simple. 'They're too far away. I can't see their faces.'

'It can't be Hunny and Mori; you'd know them by their heights,' said Renge, resting an anxious hand on the windowsill and clutching the pendant of her twenty-four carat necklace. 'How tall is the pair that's coming towards us? Is one of them taller? Are they wearing any glasses?'

Tamaki focussed the lens, his mouth a thin line as he deciphered the image. 'It has to be the twins. They're never apart. And Mori-sempai seems to be with them, along with Hunny-sempai…'

Haruhi appeared, presenting mugs of coffee on a polished silver tray, complete with thimbles of cream and a pot full of sugar cubes. With grateful smiles, Renge and Momoka accepted, warming the chill from their fingers as they took cautious sips. As Haruhi turned, about to pass the final mug to Tamaki, something in her sempai's posture subtly altered, causing her to pause. He lowered the binoculars with shaky hands and handed them to Haruhi like he would a random dress or a bouquet of flowers.

Haruhi sighed and placed the tray on a table just behind them in the corridor. What was it this time? Had he really seen something important? Having babbled like a tour guide on their private flight to Sapporo whilst holding her hostage with brochures of the lodge, Tamaki's enthusiasm for the trip had not yet abated – even in the face of wintry isolation. After Kyouya and the others left, Tamaki had amused himself with the binoculars, pointing out random shapes in the clouds which did not resemble any wildlife indigenous to Hokkaido. But when Haruhi looked through the binoculars herself, she found that her hands were shaking too as she realised what she was looking at.

* * *

Hikaru was wracked with guilt, unable to explain what happened on the hillside. He was sitting beside Kaoru in the bedroom, the one they chose on their first day at the lodge. It was a double with en-suite facilities designed especially for the twins. The furniture had been mass-produced somewhere in northern Europe and just existed to satisfy the tastes of slightly wealthier commoners. As a joke, the twins selected this bedroom to celebrate the presence of Haruhi on their trip to Hokkaido and to see if she had heard of this infamous company. But the choice was not entertaining now: Hikaru was sick of the dull, blunt fixtures and their modern, minimalistic designs, as well as the fact that it failed as a hospital. The whole room merely served to remind him of the wilderness beyond and the cruelty this wilderness had inflicted on Kaoru.

'You're not lying to me… are you, Haruhi?' said Hikaru, listening to the rattles and clicks of the first aid kit as Haruhi packed it away.

Haruhi glanced at him, then at Kaoru. She answered, 'Of course not, Hikaru. I would never lie to you.'

He stroked the bandage wrapped around Kaoru's head, resting lightly on the spot where the temple had bled not moments before. They assured him that the concussion was minor, repeating their diagnosis until Hikaru had to believe it. All kinds of worst-case scenarios had filled his imagination, from bleeding of the brain to a possible coma. And he would have readily entertained them as well, if only to create an outlet for his silent and unspeakable shame. Squeezing the bruised hand that lay on the blankets, Hikaru ignored the moan that escaped from his brother's lips and the alarm that swiftly entered Haruhi's expression.

'He needs to rest,' said Haruhi, easing Hikaru's hand from Kaoru's and keeping it clasped in her own.

The sight of Kaoru bleeding had placed everybody on edge and they were downstairs in the lounge, discussing the incident with Hunny and Mori. To make matters worse, there was also speculation over the whereabouts of Kyouya, who never came back to the lodge, despite people calling his name and searching the local vicinity. When they asked Hikaru where Kyouya had gone, he drew an immediate blank. His priority at the time had been Kaoru and his mind was not in a state to remember other details.

'Can I tell you something… something you must never tell anyone?' Hikaru asked in a low voice.

Haruhi smiled and softly pressed his hand. 'What's that?' she asked.

'It should be worse than this.'

'What do you mean?'

'All Kaoru has are some cuts and bruises. His nose isn't broken. His teeth are intact. And he'll recover as if this never even happened.'

'But isn't that a good thing?' asked Haruhi, troubled by what Hikaru was saying.

Hikaru tugged his hand from Haruhi's grasp and quickly turned away, the sobs bursting out of him. Physically, he cringed, every muscle in his body stiffening with anguish. How could he be so ungrateful when Kaoru was okay? The arms of Haruhi slipped quietly around him. This only made the betrayal feel worse. Did he not deserve a punishment far more substantial, something which he could honestly, _truly_ feel bad about after what he had done?

'It was – it was – me,' Hikaru sobbed. 'It was _my fault_ that he fell!'

Surprised, Haruhi tried to speak, but Hikaru shook his head over and over. He told her everything: how Kaoru had taken Kyouya's side in an argument, dismissing Hikaru's concerns about the plan they were following, and how Kaoru had dismissed him again whilst climbing the hillside with the cell-phone, and how Hikaru had flipped and thrown the snowball at Kaoru.

'I – I didn't mean to – to do it – believe me – _I didn't!'_

Haruhi swallowed, blinking a few times. 'Okay,' she agreed. 'Okay.'

Lost for words, she left Hikaru by himself in the bedroom, and in Haruhi's absence, the eldest twin covered his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

My continuing thanks to beta-readers liquidity and Social Safari, whose valuable feedback has shaped every chapter.

Thank you also to Le Flaming Flamingo for their encouragement. Let us hope that more horror stories are written!

* * *

**CHAPTER III**

In _Uki Doki Memorial_, the vacation level involved spending time with Ichijo Miyabi in various locations, be it relaxing on the shores of some tropical beach or strolling through the glades of sun-dappled forests, but never in her wildest dreams did Renge think she would be doing this with Kyouya. Had she not overheard the twins and Haruhi discussing their trip to Hokkaido in recess, Renge would have spent her winter break entirely oblivious to the Host Club's plans, leaving them to enjoy a whole adventure without her. However, her timing was impeccable and she demanded to know why the Manageress of the Host Club and representative of _Moe Moe Ouran Journal_ was not being included on this fabulous vacation. The twins, as usual, blanched at Renge's sudden appearance (even with her motorised pedestal absent from the picture) and refused to elaborate on where they were going. Haruhi, on the other hand, was nice enough to explain that the Host Club was flying to Hokkaido and spending a week at a traditional lodge. As if sensing Renge's disappointment at being excluded from such knowledge, Kyouya stepped in, pretending that he had been looking for her all along, which, through the fan-girl filter in Renge's mind, was akin to being rescued by the flesh incarnate of Ichijo Miyabi.

'What an honour it would be,' Kyouya said, 'if you could accompany the Host Club on this exclusive vacation.'

'_Really?'_ said Renge, transfixed by the prospect. She also noted how perfect he looked with a leather-bound notebook under his arm. 'Was this awesome trip _your_ idea?'

'It might as well have been,' Kyouya smiled. 'Kurakano-san.' He acknowledged the Vice-president of Class 1-A, who was sitting nearby, reading a novel, and known by the Host Club as a generous customer. The girl turned in her seat. 'Would you like to join us on a trip to Hokkaido? I'm sure Renge here would be happy to have you along?' In the background, only Haruhi and the twins heard the yen signs ringing; they shared a meaningful glance.

Delighted, Renge showered a still smiling Kyouya with love-hearts and compliments, deaf to the groans from Hikaru and Kaoru, whilst Momoka happily blushed and bowed very deeply. This trip was going to be great, awesome, excellent, _stupendous! _ They just won a backstage pass into the personal lives of the Host Club, meaning that Renge could at last come to grips with the real Haruhi Fujioka!

On their private jet to Sapporo, Renge was quick to ensure that she shared a table seat with Momoka, Haruhi, and Tamaki, vying for Haruhi's attention with her own set of brochures. Being so close to Haruhi Fujioka filled Renge's stomach with butterflies (which had nothing to do with the fact that she was feeling slightly travel sick). If only she could have him completely to herself then maybe, just maybe, everything about the scholarship studentwould finally come to light…

Renge sighed, turning from the jealous glare of Tamaki to the snowy landscape she could see from the window. _There simply couldn't_ be_ a better vacation! We'll go skiing and sledding and climbing and snowboarding… and we'll even have a sauna and a nice, cosy fire where we'll toast cheese and marshmallows, just like they do in France! _ From the corner of her eye, she glanced over at the table seats opposite theirs on the jet, where Kazukiyo-kun was being tormented by the twins. He was a strange companion for Hikaru and Kaoru, whose proclamations of friendship had pressured the timid Class President to accept their invitation, whether he preferred to or not. Despite paying little attention to the other non-Host characters (who she felt were just fillers for Tamaki's laziness), it intrigued her to learn from a very reliable source what the true reason was behind Kazukiyo's unwillingness. The gaze of a calculating otaku shifted from the trembling Kazukiyo to the laughing face of her friend Momoka and raised a finely plucked brow. _Well, well, well,_ Renge mused. She would have to do something about this… even if the matter was beyond her jurisdiction!

But her well-meaning thoughts were instantly pushed aside by the sight of Kyouya Ootori sitting by himself. Like Hunny and Mori-sempai, the Director of the Host Club had decided on a double-seat instead of a table. Wondering if he was okay, Renge made an excuse to stand up and wander down the short aisle to where Kyouya was seated. To the right were the senior Hosts, Hunny and Mori, passing the timewith a rather unusual poker game. Though Renge and every fan girl out there would have preferred a more titillating scene, the only unusual thing about Hunny and Mori's game were the slabs of shortbread and chocolate cookies acting as gambling chips. For a moment, Renge scrutinised the Wild type and the Lolita type with shrewd, knowing eyes before pointing out the card which would avert Mori from losing. In the silence that ensued, flowers appearing automatically in Hunny's corner, Renge finally understood what Mori was wordlessly informing her through his intense, manly stare: that he was losing cookies on purpose because he liked the shortbread.

'Hahaha… Leaving you to it!' said Renge, holding up her hands and swivelling on the spot until she was facing the other way. Before her was Kyouya Ootori, slumped against the window, seemingly asleep. A textbook lay open in his lap, marked in several places by multicoloured stickers with neatly written kanji. _How could he be studying on the best vacation in the world?_ Quietly, Renge slipped into the empty seat beside him, careful not to wake the dormant Shadow King. From what she had gathered in her research for _Moe Moe Ouran Journal_, there were two Hosts who did not take kindly to having their slumber disturbed and Kyouya was definitely one of them. Finger on lips, she leaned closer, taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to absorb the intelligent beauty of her original favourite. She looked at the fringe that fell so carelessly across Kyouya's cheeks, the lashes gentle and soft against the expression of peace which had settled on his face. The sight was so rare, and so perfect, that Renge almost wept at the thought of never seeing it again…

* * *

'She isn't listening,' remarked one of the twins, who snapped their fingers in front of Renge's face in an effort to rouse her.

Blinking rapidly, Renge realised that she had missed what the twins were saying, so intent was she on the scene with Haruhi and Kyouya conversing near the second-storey window. As part of Kyouya's logical plan, he and the twins were going to test his cell-phone for a signal by climbing the surrounding hills, whilst Hunny and Mori-sempai were charged with the task of checking the back-up generator so the lodge would have electricity. Impatient to see the rest of Haruhi and Kyouya's intimate moment, though not in a position to ignore the twins' chant of 'You're not listening, you're not listening!', Renge switched her attention reluctantly away and focused on the twins.

'What?' she snapped, hair twitching with the prospect of snakes.

'Our game,' said the twin with his hair parted to the right. 'Don't run it down before we get back.'

'I won't,' Renge promised. They were referring to the hand-held game console recorded as their ultimate accessory in _Moe Moe Ouran Journal_. She raised a mitten-free hand and waved them "goodbye" an inch from their faces. 'Take care! Bring back loads of memories!'

'We haven't even left yet,' they glowered.

Renge shoved them out of the second-storey window, which, on this occasion, did not prove very dangerous. Then she returned to the vision of Haruhi giving Kyouya a bundle of flares and her fan-girl imagination went understandably into overdrive. 'How wonderfully brave you are!' exclaimed Renge, clutching Haruhi by the arm as she launched into an epic, unstoppable panegyric. 'Regardless of your desperation to join our fight for survival, you are enduring the task of waiting in the distance, conscious that a warrior with such a fragile constitution could never join the fight realistically in the first place!'

'She's complimenting me, right?' muttered Haruhi to Kyouya, who merely bowed and thanked her for the flares.

'Kyouya-sama,' said Renge, abruptly serious. Her cheeks were red from the cold winter air, though any fan-girl would have said she was blushing. 'Come back… won't you?'

The brevity of her words caught Kyouya by surprise, in that he paused for a second as he stepped over the window ledge. 'I will,' he said, and in perfect imitation of Ichijo Miyabi, Kyouya smiled, causing tears to spring down her cold-reddened cheeks as he strode purposefully into the snow without a backward glance.

* * *

And now, they were here. They were all here without Kyouya Ootori. Shouting his name in the dark had given Renge a sore throat and she could barely speak above the decibel of a cheer. She was sitting in the lounge with a cup of honey and lemon tea, blowing its steamy contents with the aid of a miniature fan. What Renge imagined would be the perfect way to spend her winter break was fast becoming an otaku's worst nightmare. The trip was simply going from bad to worse. A snowstorm hit as soon as they arrived, and though the results were quite entertaining to begin with, the excessive amount had trapped them inside, restricting their activities to what commoners were rumoured to do when too poor to do much of anything else: sit around. For a time, it suited Renge well, as she was accustomed to finding amusement during moments where her computer had crashed, yet staying indoors, unable to cosplay or use her motorised pedestal (abandoned at Haneda Airport due to its weight) had eventually ruined her nerves more than a delay to the next expansion of _Uki Doki Memorial_. Not only had the lodge exhausted its power five days into the trip, there was also no means of putting the power back on again. From what Hunny and Mori-sempai had told them, it would take a certified engineer to fix the contraption, and the news affected the moods of everyone in the room. Until this option vanished, it had never occurred to any of them how else they would manage to get out of this mess. With Kyouya missing, who was there to fill his shoes? And who would even want to? Renge swallowed a mouthful of tea, tasting its bitterness. Where had Kyouya gone? Why had he disappeared? She had called and called his name, searching as far as the fading light would permit, and then she had stumbled back to the lodge along with everyone else, baffled and upset by his unexplained absence.

Everyone was trying to think. What were they going to do? As President of the Host Club, Tamaki now held the most senior rank based on their standings within Ouran Academy. No doubt this left him ill at ease as he drummed his fingers on the sofa armrest, stroking his jaw with undisguised tension. There was nothing remotely novice or silly about Tamaki now. He seemed to have listened to Renge's advice by discarding the melodramatic gestures and overwhelmingly positive attitude, which previously made her question his role in the Host Club. While people around Tamaki talked, speculating on events in recent hours, his violet eyes narrowed in contemplation, never once adding his voluble opinions. Was he the Chairman's son for nothing or did he truly know what to do?

'Why were the twins without him,' said Kazukiyo. 'That's what I want to know.' As one, the whole room turned to the Class President of 1-A, whose melancholy had rendered him speechless for several days; the sound of his voice came naturally as a shock. Conscious of everyone's reactions, Kazukiyo flushed and dropped his stare from the fireplace to the hands that were fidgeting on his knees. 'Their instructions were to stay together, so why did the twins leave Kyouya by himself? I know there's no one here except us, but we told them to be safe and to always keep each other in sight. Anything could happen out there – absolutely anything – so why did they agree to split up like that?'

'They were taking it in turns to test the signal.' Haruhi-kun was standing by the door, smelling faintly of medicine.

Renge wondered why his tone was so defensive.

'Haru-chan, how's Kao-chan?' inquired Hunny-sempai, hugging his pastel pink bunny with pale knuckles and distracting Renge briefly with his cuteness.

'He's asleep. Hikaru's looking after him.'

Tamaki moved on the sofa, and for a change, Haruhi accepted without his usual reservations. 'Did Kaoru remember anything?' asked Tamaki, eyes on Haruhi's face.

'He wasn't awake that long. We'll have to ask him tomorrow.'

'So what do we do?' said Momoka. 'Do we wait until morning to find Kyouya-sempai?'

Renge's heart leapt at the suggestion, appalled. 'But we can't!' she blurted. 'We have to find Kyouya _now!'_

'Sorry to burst your bubble, Renge,' answered Tamaki, rubbing his temples, 'but it's dark out there and we can't risk anyone else getting hurt.'

'But we have flashlights, don't we, Mori-sempai?' Renge appealed. 'If we have flashlights, we can still keep searching!'

Next to Hunny, the tall and silent senior was stifling a yawn as he prepared to reply, but a hand clamped itself urgently over his mouth, aware that the guy could be quite a different person when exhibiting signs of fatigue. 'Tama-chan, we're really sorry,' said Hunny, 'but can we have a bath now before going to bed? We're really both tired, especially Mori…'

A smile flickered across Tamaki's lips, if only for a moment. 'Thanks for what you did today. Have a good rest.'

'But Tamaki-sempai…' said Renge.

'No, Renge,' he said, firmly. 'We search for Kyouya tomorrow.'

Angry, Renge slammed the tea cup down on the coffee table in front of her, splashing the hot liquid over her fingers. The tea stung Renge's skin, yet she refused to let the pain defeat her. If anything, Kyouya was the one who was suffering right now, so Renge felt she had no right to complain. 'Some friend _you_ are,' she spat, 'leaving him for dead! And you,' said Renge, pointing at Momoka. 'It really breaks my heart when a fellow fan-girl will not go all the way!'

'Renge, that's enough!' said Haruhi. 'We're all friends here!'

'No, we aren't! If we were all friends, we wouldn't be arguing like this! We'd all be out there finding Kyouya!'

An awful silence met Renge's words.

Sobbing, she ran from the lounge, shutting its door with a bang and stomping up the staircase. _What the hell is wrong with them? How can they just sit there while Kyouya needs their help?_ She paused to catch her breath, to wipe at the tears coursing down her cheeks. There had been something unbearable about what Renge had just said – something unfair – because she knew that everyone was right: it would be foolish to keep searching in the dark, not knowing where Kyouya was, and putting their own lives needlessly at risk. _But there must be something we can do,_ thought Renge. _This is meant to be my first vacation with friends… it's not meant to be like this!_

'Renge?'

Her head jerked at the unfamiliar voice. Hastily, she brushed the last of her tears away with a sleeve and glanced up at the silhouette standing in shadow. 'Who is it?' said Renge, a hand feeling the wall beside her for any traces of the light switch. Flicking the switch up and down, she recalled that the electricity was out and leaned uneasily against the wall, trying to identify the unknown silhouette. It wore an oversized sweater and white pyjamas, not an outfit she had ever seen on any of the Hosts, and there was also the faint smell of medicine, just like the one she had smelt on Haruhi. 'Kaoru?' she guessed. The silhouette moved from the darkness into a square of moonlight falling through the second-storey window.

It was indeed Kaoru Hitachiin.

'Are you feeling any better?' Renge asked, suddenly uncomfortable. Earlier, her reaction to seeing him drenched with blood had been to stare and step aside, gripping the handle of her coffee mug so tight that a crack appeared in its porcelain surface. Did Hikaru tell him that? Was that why Kaoru was here? Gingerly, the younger Hitachiin relaxed on the staircase banister, the bruises on his moonlit skin resembling smears of ash. A line of blood had trickled from the cut on his lip; it glowed a deep, vivid red in the moonlight.

He nodded once.

'I'm sorry for shouting… I must have woken you.'

'Are you looking for Kyouya?' he said. His voice was weak, as if he had shouted.

'Yes,' Renge nodded, 'and you're not going to stop me.'

'Why would I stop you?' said Kaoru, smiling. 'I'd be doing the same thing if I could.'

The admission lifted Renge from some of her misery. 'Really…?' she said, as she joined him on the landing. In spite of the oversized sweater, an item he had borrowed from Mori-sempai, the thin frame of Kaoru was shivering. Concerned, she gave him the scarf wound about her neck. 'Here,' she smiled.

An emotion passed across Kaoru's features, something almost like guilt. He declined her offer and made some excuse about visiting the bathroom. 'Come back, won't you?' Kaoru told her as he walked stiffly along the landing, unaware that he had used the very "farewell" that Renge had given Kyouya.

'I – I will,' Renge responded. Taking heart from Kaoru's approval, Renge proceeded to the bedroom that she shared with Momoka and started packing supplies for the challenge ahead.

* * *

_I'm going to find Kyouya!_

The sentence fuelled Renge's footsteps as she ploughed through the snow, breath shooting out in brisk, ragged plumes. Renge had not been the fittest member of her class, exchanging her lack of physical prowess and potential as a future athlete with the fact that she could converse in fluent French and excel at public marketing. Whilst her role in the Houshakuji business had yet to be determined, Renge was confident as a whole on her ability to find things, as she had found the flesh incarnate of Ichijo Miyabi when there had once been no hope**. **And now, she would find him again in much the same way.

For ten minutes, she trudged in the direction of where the Snow Liberation Party had last seen him going, following the tracks already embedded in the snow. Under the glare of moonlight, they were difficult to miss and she urged herself to reach the hill with its snowman as fast as she could. She had no idea why the snowman was there. To any fan-girl who knew the Cool type as thoroughly as she did, it was obvious that Kyouya would never build a snowman, unless he was being blackmailed or paid a large sum of money. She reached the hilltop after ten more minutes of climbing, tottering towards the snowman on wobbly legs.

'Hohoho… I made it!'

Renge rummaged in her bag for a bottle of water. As she drank, relishing the cool and refreshing effect it had on her body, the sound of a drawling howl pierced the chilly air. Renge froze in mid-sip, eyes large and wary of the motionless snow around her. _Was that just a wolf?_ Slowly, she backed towards the shadow of the snowman stretching out like a concrete road past the edge of the hilltop. She pressed as close to the snowman as she felt it would allow, putting the bottle of water into her bag and clasping the bag fearfully to her chest. _There can't be wolves in Hokkaido,_ she thought. _They went extinct during the Meiji Restoration, even _I_ know that!_

The howl came again – this time, much closer.

Renge whimpered, shaking at a gust of wind that tugged at her pale brown hair. She crept behind the snowman to hide, hoping the wolves, the wind, whatever the hell was out there, had not even seen her, and started at the view on the other side of the snowman. Less than three steps away was a ravine peppered with boulders and rocks. 'Kyouya,' she said, the name echoing long in the dark. Kneeling, Renge crawled on all fours and peered into the ravine.

_Maybe this is why we can't find Kyouya… did he slip?_

She flinched at the sound of yet another howl, glancing over her shoulder out of sheer reflex, and as Renge did so, the meaning of what she saw brought out a high-pitched scream, for the person staring down at her was no other than Kyouya Ootori.


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Thanks for your reviews, Enigmaticrose4 and NightmareTragedies.

I understand that my writing for this story differs to the "charged" works displayed previously.

I am learning to stretch myself as a writer, as well as a person - thank you for your words.

(And for reminding me that I haven't uploaded the next chapter, NightmareTragedies!)

Thanks also to SkellingtonZero for finding the time to leave me their thoughts, without whom this story would never be.

And my thanks always to liquidity and Social Safari for being such wonderful beta-readers.

(I'll take my Oscar now.)

* * *

**CHAPTER IV**

Kaoru winced at the aches in his body. He had never felt such pain before. Had he drunk in excess the previous evening, he would have had something to compare it to, but he could only liken the pain to falling down the side of a hill. Opening his eyes, Kaoru could see that the room was dark. Someone had drawn the woollen curtains across the windows. In the dark, the soft breath of Hikaru intervened with the silence, and Kaoru listened, staring quietly at the still figure huddled close to him on the bed. A blanket had been draped over Hikaru's body to guard him from the cold and the skin around the older twin's eyes was swollen and red, as if he had gone to sleep crying.

Slowly, Kaoru eased his sore limbs away from his sleeping brother and bit the insides of his mouth to stifle the pain. Why people were always said to bite their lips was a mystery to him. Could they not tell that doing so would only make the pain worse? He tried to rise into a sitting position, but found it physically impossible. For a moment, he panicked, frightened that his injuries had resulted in paralysis. Kaoru could think of nothing worse than not being able to move. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to roll to the side until he could stretch out a leg and swing it over the edge of the mattress. After several minutes, he finally managed to sit upright, sliding his feet in slippers.

Movement in his neck was limited, preventing him from shaking or nodding his head. _ Great,_ thought Kaoru, gripping the blankets as he prepared to stand up. Kaoru had suffered whiplash before from falling down on an ice rink. He was not much of a skater and woke up in terror the following day, convinced that he would never walk again in his life. At the time, Hikaru had laughed, removing the soft toys and pillows which he had piled deliberately over his younger twin in the night. Only when Kaoru started to cry – genuinely scared – did his brother call one of the maids, who had to summon the family doctor. Kaoru smiled. His seven-year-old self had not forgiven Hikaru straight away and his brother had been forced to work hard to lift the juvenile grudge. With an effort, he gradually stood, but his thighs were weak with bruises and he quickly sat down.

'Kaoru, what are you doing?' The question was filled with fear, as if the younger twin had been caught walking a tightrope.

'Morning,' said Kaoru, smiling. 'Did you sleep well?'

'How are you? Are you in pain?'

'Fine,' Kaoru lied. He felt his twin move and imagined him with a hand reaching out, anxious to touch; it made him feel uneasy. 'What happened to me, anyway? Did you take me to bed?' Kaoru lightly pressed the contours of his face, careful to avoid the bandage on his temple.

'Don't you… remember?' asked Hikaru.

Kaoru frowned as a whirl of nausea rushed through his mind, snatching at the veil that hung between memories. He was on the hillside again, gripping snow and sweeping the sky with Kyouya's cell-phone, until something past its screen had caught his attention, making him see what had happened to–

Liquid splashed down his sweater, filling the room with a sour smell. He stared at the mess, wiped the tears from his eyes. He had just thrown up, an act that shocked him. What could have caused him to vomit like that? Just what had he seen? He tried to remember, tried to visualise the image he had glimpsed so distantly, but all he could summon was the blur of his brother's arm as it threw a single snowball.

'No,' said Kaoru, 'I don't remember.'

Hikaru leapt from the bed and retrieved a wet towel from the en-suite bathroom. He cleaned the sweater without a word, not meeting Kaoru's gaze, and helped his twin to remove the fouled garment. At length, he said, 'You'll tell me when you're ready, right?'

'I ruined Mori's sweater.'

Hikaru's laugh was almost a sob. 'Is that all you're worried about?' They shared the gentlest of hugs, which had little to do with Hikaru's knowledge of whiplash. 'Do you want to skip breakfast? I'll stay here if you want.'

'No, we have to eat. Help me stand?'

Kaoru smiled, and so did Hikaru.

Together, they clasped hands.

* * *

Momoka jumped at the sound of people entering the kitchen. She was lost in thought, stirring a pot of baked beans cooking on the stove, when the Hitachiin twins opened the door and came in, squinting at the snow-blocked windows. Since arriving at the lodge, it was strange what habits had become so redundant, and checking what lay beyond the windows had been only one of them. Momoka herself no longer looked at the windows. They were just like the paintings that adorned the walls of Ouran: lifeless decorations she had seen too many times. After a while, there would be nothing more to see in the paintings. No matter how long or hard one chose to stare at a particular feature, they soon became less than windows due to the lack of change within their fixed brushstrokes. Momoka was not an expert in art and she would never claim to be, but she felt that the paintings in Ouran were bound to be more interesting now. At least those stiff, outdated paintings would shake the monotony of ice and snow, even reveal a new and deeper meaning, she thought. Though attending this trip with Renge and the others could only be responsible for such a conclusion, failing to find new meaning in an image which stood the test of time was not the fault of the painting itself, but the fault of the person who failed to be changed and challenged.

With a smile, Momoka gestured for the twins to sit down as she turned off the gas and scooped the baked beans onto bowls of steaming rice. The girl sensed that she was changing. She sensed that everyone around her was changing. While some had withdrawn, choosing not to acknowledge their situation in full, others had jumped straight in, determined to resolve the problem at hand. However, Momoka was somewhere in between, sitting on the fence. She knew what was going on, yet uncertainty held her back as she had never had to deal with such problems before. She glanced at the twins as they settled in chairs at the table, the older one without bruises and bandages helping the other. This was brotherly love, real brotherly love, and it warmed Momoka's heart in seeing it actually happen. After all, Momoka had no siblings of her own, and it was the reason she sometimes asked for the Hitachiins at the Host Club, if only to enjoy what she could never have for real.

If Kaoru could discern Momoka's scrutiny, he gave no sign, easing himself gingerly into the chair that Hikaru had considerately pulled out. 'Thanks,' he said, resting his hand on hers as she placed the bowl in front of him. Had the situation been different, the gesture would have thrilled the Vice-president to bits, transforming her shy and tranquil demeanour into that of a flustered fan-girl, but the sight of the younger twin looking so fragile instead brought out the pity in her, and pity made her so bold as to squeeze his hand back.

'Maybe I should get you some soup?' she suggested. Baked beans on rice had not been her idea. Tamaki, with his interest in commoner cuisine, had drawn up today's menu and had overlooked the appetite of Kaoru in his fervour.

Picking up the bottle of Tabasco sauce already on the table, Hikaru sprinkled its red, spicy contents all over his baked beans and rice before doing the same to Kaoru's. 'It's fine,' snapped Hikaru, 'we'll manage.'

Kaoru's lips twitched: a cross between anger and mirth. He was telling Hikaru, in that strange, telepathic manner, not to act like a jackass.

Momoka nearly giggled at their childish display, only to realise how lonely she was. 'Have you seen Renge?' she asked, slipping into the seat next to Kaoru, a faint blush on her cheeks.

'Why?' said Kaoru.

Suddenly, Tamaki throwing the kitchen door open interrupted Momoka's response. 'I _thought_ I could smell the lethal scent of Tabasco!' he cried, pointing at the twins. Just past his flamboyant pose was a vision of the lounge, with the heads of Hunny and Haruhi peering through the door. 'What took you so long? I've been waiting all night to speak with you!'

The twins ignored him.

'It's not the same without Mom, is it?' sulked Tamaki, converting flamboyance into tragedy as he leaned against the doorframe.

'Did you even get some sleep?' said Hikaru, in an effort to indulge him.

Tamaki appeared behind Kaoru's chair, hands resting kindly on the younger twin's shoulders. 'Kaoru, how are you feeling?'

'Hey! _I was asking you a question!'_

'I feel like crap, if I'm honest, milord,' replied Kaoru. Beans and rice dripped from his spoon as Tamaki ushered Hunny, Haruhi, Mori, and Kazukiyo in from the lounge into the kitchen. 'And I can't eat with all of you staring like that,' he added, in reference to their expectant faces.

Tamaki, whose face was undeniably the closest, was pushed away by Hikaru. 'He doesn't remember what happened, okay? Let the guy eat first!'

'We're really sorry, Hika-chan,' Hunny told him from across the table, 'but we have to search for Kyouya. He still isn't back. And the last people who saw him were you and Kao-chan, right?'

Kaoru stared at Hunny; then placed down his spoon. 'Kyouya's still missing?'

'Uh-huh,' nodded Hunny.

'But… why?'

'We don't know, Kao-chan. Did he say anything to you?'

Hikaru intervened, sensing his brother's upset. 'We asked him if he wanted to join us, but he didn't want to come. Isn't that right, Kaoru?'

'Renge isn't back, either,' said Momoka.

'What?' said Tamaki, not expecting another problem.

'Renge, she didn't come back. We share a room together, but after what happened last night, I thought she'd be too mad to… to…'

Momoka bit her lip, on the verge of crying. She should have mentioned something earlier, that was the thought of everyone in the room, and Momoka had just let them down by keeping the observation to herself. She glanced at their expressions, convinced that everyone now hated her, even though they were still trying to digest her revelation. For most of the night, Momoka had stayed awake, listening for Renge's return. She knew her roommate was mad that she hesitated to go searching for Kyouya. As the evening hours passed, Momoka gradually convinced herself that Renge only meant to sleep in a separate room just this once, and would soon to forget their argument in the morning. When the search resumed, Momoka would prove to Renge that she was as dedicated a fan-girl as ever, except the Club Manager never returned as expected. Renge's rucksack was gone, along with the mink-lined coat the girl had worn on the night they had thrown snowballs.

'I really am a bad friend,' Momoka whispered, bowing her head.

'No, you're not,' said Kazukiyo, from somewhere behind her. 'I'll join the search party. Count me in!'

Tamaki smiled at Kazukiyo's sudden courage and the hopeful look it drew from the Vice-president of Class 1-A. 'Hunny, Hikaru, are you with me?' he continued.

'Me and Usa-chan both!' grinned Hunny, holding up the pastel pink bunny.

'With you on what?' inquired Hikaru, his attention back on Tamaki.

'Searching for Kyouya and Renge, of course!'

'No, no way. I'm staying here with Kaoru.'

'Hikaru, go with them.'

'But Kaoru–'

'I didn't mean to encourage her.' Everyone glanced at the younger twin, whose hand had moved from covering his mouth to stroking the skin of his throat, a gesture so odd that they immediately fell silent. 'I saw her on the stairs. She was so… distressed.' With reluctance, Kaoru met their eyes, especially Momoka's. 'I thought she'd come back,' he said. 'I honestly did.'

'Then it's a good thing we'll be here to greet her when she does come back,' said Haruhi, finally entering the conversation. She was stood near the kitchen door with Mori, grave-faced, yet thoughtful. 'Be safe and don't split up,' she instructed Tamaki, Hikaru, Kazukiyo, and Hunny. 'And I'd give you some flares, but I gave them all to Kyouya.'

Tamaki sighed, eyes sad. 'Typical.'

* * *

Although the search party departed the lodge together, the group subconsciously divided into pairs as they went searching for Kyouya. As the only boy who was not a member of the Host Club, Kazukiyo felt very much like an outsider, not privy to their in-jokes or the friendships they shared. For instance, what was this family system they seemed to have in the Host Club? And who exactly was the "daughter" that Tamaki-sempai kept talking about? Kazukiyo walked faster, nearly leaving Hikaru behind in his haste. The only connection he really had was with Hikaru, and though their conversations to date may have strictly been about schoolwork, it was better to have spoken a little than not at all.

'You're quiet,' said Kazukiyo, as they tramped through the snow. Hikaru trudged on, not bothering to shrug; he was probably engrossed with Kaoru and the accident, thinking how his twin was faring without him at the lodge. Kazukiyo tried not to let the silence worry him. When the group asked Hikaru again where he had last seen Kyouya, his replies were perfunctory at best, as if the whole subject had bored him. And he was useless when it came to discussing Renge and her whereabouts, whose absence seemed to be one issue too many on top of the others concerning him. 'Do you think we'll find them?' Kazukiyo resumed patiently, following the fresh footprints created by Tamaki and Hunny. They were walking parallel to the tracks that Kyouya and the twins had made, treating them with the same reverence as they would an actual crime scene. The Class President shivered. _It's just an analogy,_ he insisted. He had to be troubled like Hikaru, to come up with something that morbid!

'We'll find them,' Hikaru said, lifting Kazukiyo's inner gloom, despite the insincerity of his voice. 'If they're not having a good time making angels in the snow, then they have no business whatsoever to be missing.'

For a moment, Kazukiyo wondered what Hikaru meant. Then he understood. 'Oh…' Kazukiyo blushed, 'is _that _what they're doing?'

Hikaru flashed him a bemused frown.

'Hika-chan, Kazu-chan! Over here!'

The first-years turned their heads in the direction of Hunny, who was waving at them from the top of the hill. It was the very hill where the twins had last seen Kyouya.

'What is it?' called Hikaru, clambering up the hillside.

'Hey, wait for me!' Kazukiyo cried. He was not as athletic as his classmates and nearly resorted to crawling on hands and knees. When he reached the summit at last, he leaned backwards to breathe, the cold air stinging the inner flesh of his mouth. He swallowed a few times to clear the discomfort, vowing never to volunteer again for the search party, even if the aim was to impress a girl. He staggered over to the trio, unbuttoning his coat. 'What are you guys looking at?'

In Tamaki's hand was a plastic water bottle, its contents now ice, and shrouded by a bank of snow was a rucksack that clearly belonged to Renge, whose possessions tended to be all shades of yellow.

'She was definitely here,' said Tamaki, scanning the deserted landscape through a wraparound visor normally worn by snowboarding enthusiasts. In addition to the local temperature, wind speed and personal speed were also displayed in the top corners of the lens, visible only to the wearer himself, but Tamaki was not consulting the fancy statistics blinking subtly inside the visor. Crackers, bandages, antiseptics, a game cartridge, and an otaku magazine had been packed in the rucksack – odd items to find in one place, though an indication of Renge's intentions.

'She was serious about looking for him, wasn't she, Tama-chan?' Hunny commented.

'She sure was,' Tamaki answered with a bitter smile. He replaced the items in Renge's rucksack so they could be taken back to the lodge.

In the background, Hikaru blew a listless cloud at the sky, before idly peering at footprints around him, but Kazukiyo was already thinking ahead. While the wind had wiped the details of every footprint, rendering the tracks anonymous and shallow, a high school student without a degree in forensic science could still see that a single set had walked around the snowman.

And Kazukiyo followed them, puzzled, curious.

* * *

'I'm sorry for the trouble,' Kaoru apologised to Mori as the third-year guided him up the stairs. Initially, the twins had chosen a bedroom on the second floor, but the climb was proving too much and Momoka could see that. She watched as Kaoru edged slowly down the hallway, pain burning bright in his amber eyes. It was brave of him, she thought, to endure all of this. If he was hurt or ill back in Tokyo, there was always a doctor or hospital nearby to diagnose the cause and recommend treatment, yet nothing of the sort existed out here on the fringes of Hokkaido. Only a first aid kit served as a hospital and the common sense of Haruhi Fujioka was the equivalent of a doctor. Amazing though Kyouya was with organising the trip and devising plans to lessen inconvenience, even Momoka had to admit that the Shadow King's brilliance only went so far. Could anyone here dress a wound or dose medicine correctly? Did they know what it was to care for an injured person? To a group of super-rich teens who had never worried about such matters, Haruhi's knowledge was invaluable and also a source of shame for at least one of them.

Unlike Kaoru, the Vice-president was physically sound and able to contribute, yet she was still unsure how to make her presence count. Tamaki had taken Hunny, Hikaru, and Kazukiyo-kun with him, and he had done this for a reason. From her perspective, searching for Kyouya in the snow would require stamina that neither she nor Haruhi-kun possessed, and leaving Mori-sempai behind had merely been a precaution. She paused as Mori opened the door to an unoccupied bedroom on the right and let Kaoru enter. The bedroom had en-suite facilities, two windows, and red décor.

'Not the best colour to be looking at,' Kaoru remarked, lowering his body onto the crimson blankets. Due to the whiplash, he did this with difficulty, wincing aloud when he used a muscle somewhere in his neck that was sore. 'Thanks for helping me, Mori-sempai.'

The third-year smiled and departed the room in silence, troubling Momoka with his brooding stare, yet her attention soon returned to the twin now propping himself with pillows. She rushed to his side and placed the final one behind his head, touching his hair by accident. 'Is – is that better?' she stammered, avoiding his gaze. 'It must be hard for you. Let me know if there's anything you need.'

'Stay,' said Kaoru.

The word was lonely, just like Momoka. She seated herself at the end of the bed.

'What's the matter?' he asked.

'N-nothing.'

'Is being with me that bad?'

Momoka glanced up, nervous. Since becoming trapped in the lodge, the two of them had spoken a lot more than they would have in Ouran Academy. Despite being in the same class and sometimes meeting at the Host Club, there had been little to say beyond the requirements of school or the odd times when their families would stop and talk at various events, children in tow. According to Haruhi-kun, the Hitachiins were a family of designers. Designers of clothes, designers of flowers, and even designers of computer solutions; they designed practically everything. Had she spoken to the twins directly, would she have known they were designers too? No, probably not. This trip was meant to be fun, just like Renge said, except it was turning into one of those soul-searching excursions where people reconsidered their role in society, their purpose in life, and it was making Momoka think that she was no good at all.

'Hey,' said Kaoru, softly. 'What are you crying for?'

Momoka touched her cheek and studied the wetness glistening on her fingers. Somehow, tears had fallen down her face onto the crimson blankets. The emotion was so surprising, so inexplicable that, for a moment, she could do little more than blink at the damp spots they were leaving. 'Have you ever wondered if you truly… matter?' she asked.

Kaoru appeared to contemplate the question, musing on the endless shades of red in the bedroom. 'Can't say that I have… Not that I haven't a clue how you feel, of course,' he hastily added.

'I suppose being a twin means that you always matter.'

'Not always. Sometimes it feels like you don't really matter.'

A smile played across Momoka's lips. She would never understand. 'Do you want some water?'

'Water would be lovely.'

'Okay, Kaoru,' Momoka sighed, then covered her mouth, shocked. She had forgotten the honorific and used his first name! 'S-sorry, I'll g-get that water now!' She dashed from the bedroom and slammed the door shut, something she did not intend to do either. Why was she being so familiar with Kaoru Hitachiin? And why had she left the bedroom in the first place? There was an en-suite bathroom in the bedroom itself! Momoka felt like an idiot…

Confused, she walked towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway. She would have to retrieve a glass of water in there. Passing the door next to Kaoru's, Momoka paused, conscious that it led to Kyouya-sempai's bedroom. Although the occupant was out and might not return for a number of hours, the Shadow King lingered like the history of a cave, forcing her to forget and move on. She hurried, keeping her head down, and entered the bathroom at last, shutting the door behind her. And if closing the door so quietly had not concerned Momoka so much, she would have noticed that someone else was already there.


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**

Apologies for the late submission of this chapter; it was very difficult to write.**  
**

Thank you so much for your reviews, **LaurenLovesSouthPark**, **nicluvly**, and **Mimi-dudette**.

A lot of wild speculations which have yet to be satisfied... the time will honestly come!

My continuing thanks to **liquidity** and **Social Safari** for their supportive beta-reading.

They always seem to catch what I miss and make the chapters all that more dramatic.

* * *

**CHAPTER V**

When Kazukiyo screamed, staggering away from the snowman near the edge of the hill, they thought it was simply a joke, just another act of cowardice from their easily frightened classmate. They were used to seeing him terrified, used to the way he would stutter and panic over the silliest of things, such as shadows flung by the fire or dimly lit corridors, but it was hardly a joke this time: Kazukiyo's face said so. Stunned by the scream and its raw emotion, Hikaru, Hunny, and Tamaki merely stared at his open-mouthed panic, watching him move. What could have scared him so much by peering at a snowman?

_What?_

'Pres!' shouted Hikaru, recovering first. He grabbed Kazukiyo to stop him, scared the boy would slip, only to find that he had willingly run into Hikaru's arms. Bewildered, the eldest twin sought the guidance of Hunny and Tamaki, who were approaching the snowman again, one on either side. 'What did you see?' Hikaru asked Kazukiyo, shaking the boy for an answer. 'What the hell is the matter with you?' He looked towards the snowman, about to investigate, yet his classmate held him back with an overly fierce grip.

'Don't,' Kazukiyo half-whispered, 'please don't.'

But his words came too late for the chairman's son. They could see Tamaki's expression just beyond the snowman's shoulder: it was fixed with a horrible tension, of the kind that should never be seen on the face of a friend; and surprisingly, there were tears, great curtains blurring his eyes. He was crying in silence, crying before he even knew it, and nothing Hunny-sempai could say would make the falling tears stop.

Finally, Hikaru went over, leaving Kazukiyo alone, and stood with Tamaki in front of the snowman. While the wind blew in gusts, sending strong, sweeping waves to chase across the ground and dance like ghosts in the snow, Hikaru was quiet, suddenly afraid. Until that moment, the thoughts consuming his mind had been about Kaoru and how he wanted more than anything to be with him at the lodge. And it was only right that Hikaru should be, given what had happened last night, but the others could hardly know that, and Hikaru would never tell. So he steeled himself, summoning the courage to lift his chin and understand what had caused this unusual terror.

He shifted his gaze to the snowman's head.

Blinking, Hikaru swerved, unable to believe. He recognised who was hidden there. He knew who this person was. But how could it be? How was it possible? He turned again to the snowman and studied the perfect skin surrounding its nose and the peaceful droop of its half-closed eyelids. This face could come to life any second now and say it was just a joke, except there was no chance on earth that it would ever be doing that.

Beside him, arms reached forward to rest on the snowman and Tamaki's shoulders shook as he hugged the motionless figure. Hikaru felt ill. He wanted to cry. Without a word, he placed a hand on Tamaki's coat and dared to look at Hunny. The third-year blinked as well, straining to smile, and for the rarest instance in Hikaru's life, there was someone else in the world that mattered more than Kaoru.

'Tono, let's–'

'Let's what?' Tamaki demanded in a muffled voice. 'Let's bring him back to life?' Furious, he started to claw at the snowman, tearing bits of ice from the unrelenting structure. When Hikaru intervened, halting the assault with a desperate embrace, the blond froze and examined his gloves, breathing hard. 'My best friend,' he uttered. 'My best friend.'

'I know, Tono,' said Hikaru, 'I know,' and guided his overwhelmed sempai away from the snowman and boulder-strewn ravine.

* * *

Haruhi checked the time on her wristwatch, a small-faced clock with an inexpensive strap. The stainless steel hands were bunched towards ten, two hours since the search party left. Sighing, she sipped the last of her lukewarm coffee and squinted through binoculars trained on the hills. If Tamaki had been in charge of stocking the lodge, they would have owned the finest binoculars on the market with loads of superfluous extras. For once, Haruhi would have welcomed this extravagance, if only to gain a clearer view of the landscape and comprehend why the boys had lingered in the distance. Despite leaving early to cover as much terrain as they could, hunting for Kyouya and Renge, the search party seemed to have stayed on the same hill all morning, and no longer amongst them was the snowman, its body knocked down to half the original height.

_W__hat were they doing, messing with the snowman? _

Bored, she rolled drops of coffee clinging to the bottom of her cup. What else could she do until the others returned? For the past hour, she had kept a vigil next to the second-storey window, glancing from book to binoculars and back again as the minutes ticked by. Occasionally, she would brew a saucepan of coffee for her empty thermal flask or visit Mori-sempai who was napping in the study, but other than that, there was little else to do and Haruhi was becoming increasingly restless.

She stretched her legs and rose from the cushioned chair she had positioned in the hallway. _At least someone isn't worried,_ she thought, checking on Mori-sempai once more, where he slept on folded arms upon the locked writing desk.

It would have been nice to sleep like that, without a care in the world, but Kaoru's health, along with Kyouya missing, had left Haruhi wide awake long into the night. These worries had forced her to wander, ending her meandering post-midnight tour in the lounge, where she had stared at the hearth glowing low in its grate. It was then that Tamaki had joined her, startled by her presence as she stirred on the sofa and no doubt worried by thoughts of his own. She remembered how the dark had made him appear both haggard and fragile, strands of blond hair screening his eyes and lending that amiable smile a grim sort of sarcasm. 'Hey,' was all Tamaki had said as he settled down beside her, and spoke no more for the length of his stay, not even in response to her awkward conversation.

Since Kyouya went missing, there was something different about Tamaki, something not everyone could put their finger on. To people like Haruhi, of course, it was plain that he was feeling Kyouya's absence. Without someone to question his whims or ward away the gloom with prudence and logic, Tamaki seemed to feel it was necessary to exhibit these qualities himself and act in a manner that would have made Kyouya proud, had he been around to witness it. Not that a quieter and more sensible Tamaki would have been particularly wrong; the others thought nothing less of him for actually making some sense and behaving like a proper leader for once. All the same, it was strange, this different Tamaki Suou, and while he had rested elbows on thighs in hushed meditation, narrowing his eyes at the dying embers, Haruhi wished that she had somehow reached out to him, to tell him that everything would be okay.

With a sigh, Haruhi closed the door to the study and walked downstairs to the scarlet bedroom with Kaoru. He had been talking to Momoka-san the last time she saw him, assuring the girl – in a tone she had never heard before – that even he, too, sometimes failed to matter. Embarrassed, Haruhi had withdrawn from the second-storey landing, flinching when a door slammed swiftly in the background. Was everyone strange now that Kyouya was missing? Where were all the nonchalant rich kids? She lingered by the scarlet room and listened, then quietly knocked on the door in case the twin was asleep.

'Hello,' came his flat reply, a sign that he was reading.

Haruhi entered. 'It's only me.'

'Oh, hey!' said Kaoru, quickly deserting his book. 'All quiet on the northern front?'

'Too quiet.' She drew closer to the bed, and without permission, took the bruised face between her hands, carefully tilting its startled countenance this way and that. 'Are you feeling alright? You're looking much better.'

Surmounting the intimate scrutiny, Kaoru winked, a gesture which emphasised his blackened right eye and the soreness affecting his bandaged temple. 'Why, thank you, I was thinking the same thing myself.'

'So where's Momoka?'

'Bringing water,' said Kaoru, consulting his watch, 'though I think she must have got lost.'

Haruhi's smile induced a blush as she glanced at the window with its panes of solid white.

'Haruhi.'

'Yes, Kaoru?'

'How are you holding up?'

'Just fine. Why do you ask?'

'Because no one has really asked you.'

'Oh,' said Haruhi, surprised. She supposed the statement was true. Then again, she was accustomed to dealing with things alone, being a commoner without inheritance or servants. 'I'll check on Momoka-san for you. Shout if you need something else.' Then she stepped into the hallway, relieved for some reason. 'Of course I'm fine,' Haruhi whispered. 'Of course I am.' As she strolled away from the scarlet room, the heel of her foot slipped on the parquet floor, almost causing the girl to lose her balance. 'Great,' she muttered, inspecting the puddle and gazing up at the damp patch expanding on the ceiling. Wearily, Haruhi climbed the stairs, with the intention of asking Mori where he had stored the DIY kit.

* * *

The body twinkled as crystals of ice tumbled past its supine form, rolling over fabric glued to its skin and settling in wrinkles frozen into place. Without glasses, the Shadow King looked different: he seemed younger, more handsome, and far less severe than what anyone was used to. While the skin around his face was more or less intact, blanched by the frost, flawless as a statue's, the brown eyes were pale, and the lips had curled back over dull, yet perfect, teeth.

It had been difficult to extract the body from its tomb. Overnight, a drop in temperature had softened the ice enough to crack the snowman open, though prying the body's legs from its torso had taken most of an hour. When the body finally came loose, destroying what little remained of the melting snowman, it nearly made Hunny and Hikaru sick to examine the fate of its legs. Turning the body over and gingerly brushing away what snow had covered it anew, it soon became obvious how the body had fit into a structure so small: its legs had been folded at the knees, calves bound to flanks by a thin sheet of ice, making the body appear freakishly short as it lay stiff and strange in the lumpy snow.

'Tell me it isn't true,' Tamaki appealed to Hunny and Kazukiyo, his last allies in a crumbling reality. The blond was kneeling next to the body, eyes wide and shaking with grief. During the excavation, he had stood apart from the others, too numb to assist with the chipping and digging, yet briefly restored to his senses as he struggled to repress what the body would reveal.

Resting his chin on the soft head of Usa-chan, Hunny murmured, 'You know I can't say that, Tama-chan. It really is–'

'Please, Kazukiyo-kun! It isn't true, is it?'

'I'm really sorry...' came the first-year's stricken reply from where he sat on the hill.

'Hikaru?' Tamaki persisted, turning to the twin on his left. The plea was turning desperate, in danger of further tears, but there was nothing that Hikaru could say to reduce Tamaki's distress.

'It's him,' he said, just as a gust of wind sprayed the body with a fresh wave of crystals. 'They wanted him to fit in the snowman, to hide the fact that they killed him.' Fists grabbed Hikaru by the lapels of his jacket, yanking on the scarf with vicious censor. All the same, Hikaru bore this act of despair with a stoic glower, until Tamaki loosened his grip and let the truth continue.

Amongst those gathered, only Hikaru had the courage to keep studying the corpse, as if comprehending the horror would somehow solve the crime. And it _was_ a crime, to kill another person, and it was clear not only to Hikaru, but to the others as well, how Kyouya's death was not an accident. Removing the body had nearly severed its head, but the skin around Kyouya's throat, leathery with ice, had preserved the violent breach between skull and spine, displaying the cause of his chilling demise through a dark, ugly ring.

'Was he strangled?' Kazukiyo asked, approaching the group once more with folded arms and a slight sour smell.

Hikaru nudged the head, causing it to rock with unnatural ease at angles no human head should have managed. 'No,' said Hikaru hoarsely, to the sound of his classmate's renewed bout of vomiting. He wiped his gloves in the snow and met the gaze of Hunny, then Tamaki, before saying, 'What is going on? Who the fuck is _doing_ this?'

'It – it can't be one of us,' Tamaki mumbled, retreating from Hikaru's glare as he tried to absorb this horrendous possibility.

Hikaru blinked, and momentarily, could not reply, appalled by his own conclusion. _Of course it can't be one of us,_ he thought, _but who else is here but us?_ He considered the body, voiceless in the snow, and strived to create an alternate meaning. Perhaps the guy had – or maybe he had decided to – Hikaru raked his hair, pulled on its strands. 'I know,' he answered belatedly, 'but–' He covered his mouth. Tears were pouring down. 'Just who the fuck is doing this? It _can't_ be one of us… it _can't_ be…'

* * *

'Renge!' Momoka exclaimed, after overcoming her shock. 'When did you get back? The others have just gone out looking for you. We've all been so worried!' She stepped eagerly towards the girl, pleased to have her friend safe and sound, though not entirely distracted from her original task. 'You'll never believe who I was talking to just now,' she continued excitedly, approaching the sink with an empty tumbler. 'Kaoru Hitachiin! He's still unwell from the night before, but he's so nice and really interesting. I think we're getting along really well!'

The faucet flowed like thunder, conquering the space of the limited bathroom. Only when the tumbler was completely full did Momoka realise how odd it was for Renge to be silent. Turning, she saw her friend perched on the edge of the bathtub, gripping the thighs of her damp, stained jeans and staring at the wall with its stripes of pink and yellow. There were emotions in Renge's face which Momoka had never witnessed before. Something like rage tinged with quiet anguish. 'Are you alright?' inquired Momoka, a bit cautiously. 'What's wrong? Do you want me to–'

The girl shook her head: a slow, mechanical movement. 'Who's here?' she demanded, fingers squeezing the fabric of her jeans. Her behaviour was upsetting, and not how Momoka had imagined their reunion at all.

'Kaoru, Haruhi, and Mori–'

Eyes flicked to the door where Momoka stood motionless, clutching a glass of water; they stared, as if assessing her. 'Is that all?'

Momoka nodded.

'What about Kyouya? Have they found him yet?'

'Tamaki and the others went out to–'

'So they haven't found him.'

Momoka swallowed. 'Renge, tell me what's going on. Why are you being like this?' She flinched as the girl sprang from the bathtub, standing with arms trembling at her sides.

'I'll show you,' said Renge, voice controlled. Without further explanation, she brushed past the Vice-president of Class 1-A and tried to open the door, only to find that it was still locked on the inside. 'We'll have to start doing that,' she said, mostly to herself, before turning the bolt with an audible click.

* * *

The book lay undisturbed on the blankets, forgotten by Kaoru as he considered his reflection in a round compact mirror. He was in a sorry-looking state with his black eye and bandage, no matter how kindly the others chose to comment. Broken features, so unlike the person he recognised, seemed to fascinate more than alarm him as he shifted the mirror from left to right in an effort to gauge every aspect. Hikaru was right: he would not suffer much in the long-run; the two of them would continue to look the same once all the injuries had healed. Nevertheless, the prospect of these cuts and bruises healing over time left Kaoru feeling anxious; he wanted something else as distinctive to quickly replace them. After all, they made his identity now, and people could tell him apart from his brother without having to guess. Not that being a twin was somehow a chore – it was nothing like that at all – just that, sometimes, it was nice to feel like he actually existed, that he was actually a person who was separate from Hikaru.

Guilty with where these thoughts were going, Kaoru closed the compact and tried to reach for the book he had discarded earlier. The movement hurt him, causing unnecessary tears to prickle at his eyes. He really missed Hikaru. He wanted his brother back. _Why did I tell him to go with the search party? What if I don't get to see him again?_ Kaoru inhaled to stop the sobs rising. He needed someone else in the room to distract him.

Composed again, his thoughts turned to prior events, still puzzled by his reaction to a flimsy memory. 'What did I see?' he wondered. It had something to do with Kyouya, that much he knew for certain, but the image of what happened next was as blurry as a dream, altering with the tide of Kaoru's changing moods.

'You've been here all this time?' said Haruhi from somewhere in the hallway.

Kaoru stilled, suddenly curious.

'No,' said Renge, abruptly, 'but there's something I have to tell you. When do the others return?'

'I don't know,' said Haruhi. 'Soon, I hope.'

Timidly, Momoka entered the bedroom, perturbed by the reappearance of her friend. To Kaoru's dismay, she closed the door, muffling the conversation between Renge and Haruhi.

'Momoka, what's wrong?' Kaoru asked, straining to hear past the door.

Before answering, Momoka tucked some hair behind her ear. 'Something's up with Renge.'

'You mean she's stopped doing cosplay?'

'I heard that,' interrupted the girl in question, opening the door.

Not a usual fan of the self-proclaimed Manager of the Host Club, Kaoru readied himself to challenge whatever drama the girl had to offer, only to find all retorts useless on his lips. 'What is it?' said Kaoru, struck by Renge's expression.

'It's Kyouya,' she said. 'He's–'

'Hello, anyone around?'

Their heads jerked as one to where footsteps were sounding on the second-storey hallway. Being the closest, Haruhi rushed to the staircase and called to the newcomers, 'Down here! Renge's back. She has something to tell us!' Without protest, the search party members obeyed, soon emerging through the door of the scarlet bedroom, tired and wary.

Seeing his twin on the bed, Hikaru urgently hugged him, heedless of the pain this induced in Kaoru's aching back, though the action did not come speedily enough, for Kaoru noticed the redness of Hikaru's eyes.

'Is everyone here?' Renge inquired, visually counting the youths who were now occupying the room and looking at her with stares of varying dread and disbelief.

'No,' recalled Haruhi, 'I'll go fetch Mori-sempai,' and disappeared from the room, leaving behind her an atmosphere of tension.

'Renge-chan, what's this for?' said Hunny, cocking his head as he listened to Haruhi's progress along the second-storey hallway. His eyes were reddish too, and for once, Renge had nothing to criticise in the third-year's deliberate cuteness: she smiled a little and blinked a few times, which sent an unfathomable chill through the younger twin's scalp.

'I'll tell you in a minute, when everyone's here,' Renge said, much to Tamaki's annoyance.

'If what you have to say is _anything_ other than sorry for swanning off in the middle of the bloody night, then I don't want to even _hear_ about it!'

Renge blanched. 'B-but, Tamaki,' she began, almost on the verge of tears.

'Where the _blazes_ have you been? And what the hell is this meeting for?' Hunny tugged a little on Tamaki's coat; he turned away, enraged. Only when he had sufficiently calmed did he speak to Renge again. 'So many people have been worried about you,' he told her, 'and we've looked for you all morning, wondering where you were.'

'I'm – I'm sorry,' murmured Renge, bowing deeply in Tamaki's direction. Then she bowed to everyone else in the room, who met her apology with self-conscious nods.

'We have something to tell you too,' said Hunny, as he squeezed the body of Usa-chan, 'but we'll wait for Takashi and Haru-chan to come back.'

'Hikaru,' whispered Kaoru, 'what's going on?' But Hikaru declined to answer, maintaining, instead, the painful embrace.

Meanwhile, there was silence.

And no footsteps on their way down the nearby staircase.

'Haruhi-kun, what's taking so long?' cried Renge, growing impatient.

'I'll get her,' said Tamaki, and departed the scene before the pronoun could be disputed.

* * *

Haruhi waited, then knocked on the study door and waited again. She had done this twice in a row, respectful of Mori's privacy, although she wondered just how tired he really was to ignore her once again. 'I'm coming in,' she declared, and opened the door to reveal the reticent teen exactly as she left him. 'There's a meeting downstairs, Mori-sempai. Renge says it's important.'

No response. Not even a muscle.

'Mori-sempai, are you sleeping?' She moved towards the writing desk where he lay on folded arms. 'Mori-sempai, you have to wake up now.' A hand reached out to shake him by the shoulder, but the sight of something damp on the fabric of Mori's sweater quietly drew her attention. It looked like water beneath his arms…

Possibly drool.

'Really…?' remarked Haruhi; partly amused. All the same, she touched his shoulder and gave it a shake, and it was then that she froze at the sight of something else.

'Haruhi, are you in here?'

She jumped at Tamaki's query, confirming even more what her mind was swiftly suggesting. 'T-Tamaki, can you come in here?'

Tamaki entered the study and they looked at one another, each taking in how the other had dramatically changed since they parted company some hours before. From the writing desk, she could tell that the chairman's son was in a daze, his bloodshot stare so thoroughly confused that he could barely form a sentence. He was probably stunned by the state of her slippers as she stood in a puddle, watching the writing desk leak surreptitiously beside her.

Numb, Haruhi raised and rolled her trembling hand with strangely dull interest. All over her skin was a dry, sticky mess of various reds and browns, with more of it stretching beyond the sleeping senior. Whoever had built the lodge had done so without a spirit level, and the desk, slanting on the floor through no fault of its own, had sufficiently hidden what had damaged the body by tipping the blood flow away from her.

'All this time,' Haruhi whispered, 'and I never knew.' Tamaki leaned against the wall and held out his palm. She reached for him, let him draw her close, and once her face was pressed within his coat, allowed the tears to fall.


End file.
